Not since WWII has the White House had a vegetable garden. Once again, a Victory Garden will grow at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. For those of us who love fresh, organic, home-grown fruits and veggies it is great to see a kindred spirit in the President of the United States. Today, the First Lady, Michelle Obama and students from Washington's Bancroft Elementary School broke ground on the South Lawn for a new White House garden.

Are you ready for a transition away from fossil fuels? Are you or your town ready to live sustainably? What do local resilience, powerdown, and permaculture mean? There is a revolution afoot and it is called the Transition Town movement. The Transition Town movement is helping villages, towns, and cities like Santa Fe prepare themselves for a future without fossil fuels.

A commuter rail system can be a wonderful thing for a community. But, what if your commute doesn't match the rail line? Well, it can be a great way to visit other towns for shopping, recreating and site-seeing. My wife and I decided to take the Rail Runner from Santa Fe to explore Albuquerque last Friday. We weren't the only ones with that idea.

After years of discussion, construction and waiting the New Mexico RailRunner Express commuter train has arrived in Santa Fe. Today's rides and events marked the official inauguration of train service to Santa Fe with the governor, government officials, other dignitaries and the public in attendance. Regular commuter train service between Albuquerque and Santa Fe begins on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008.

When you think of sustainable architecture, energy efficiency and environmental awareness do you think of your local government? The Santa Fe County Board of Commissioners were thinking ahead to rising energy and building maintenance costs and departmental growth when they requested designs for a new Public Works Facility. The new Santa Fe Public Works Facility is a result of forward-thinking public servants and a sustainable architect coming together to build a campus designed for the long run.

Looking for a way to offset your carbon footprint? Instead of paying someone else to offset your CO2 emissions you could create your own carbon sequestration system. In other words, you can plant trees and perennials at home. The New Mexico State Forestry Division wants to help you reforest your acre of the planet with the Conservation Seedling Program. Starting December 1st, anyone owning 1 acre or more of land in New Mexico can purchase seedlings from 53 varieties of trees and shrubs for spring planting.

Santa Fe County has announced several opportunities in November and December for public involvement in the revision and adoption of the Oil and Gas Element, Oil and Gas Ordinance and Growth Management Element. The following meetings and hearings of the County Development Review Committee (CDRC) and the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) will be open to the public, and participation is encouraged.

New Mexico is windy in the spring. The wide open plains of Eastern New Mexico are even windier. Power utilities are putting up wind farms across New Mexico and the Great Plains to take advantage of all of the free wind. One question hasn't been answered yet - Who will operate and maintain these turbines? Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari, NM is establishing the North American Wind Research and Training Center to educate Wind Turbine Technicians to fill that need.